There is a need to provide a barrier which acts both as a safety barrier and a hand rail for construction workers working on first or subsequent storeys of a building under construction, particularly when there is a need to be working adjacent to the upper edge of a wall at the uppermost level at that stage of the building's construction. Obviously, there is a need to prevent accidental falls from these elevated positions.
Such situations commonly occur when constructing buildings using precast concrete slabs to form perimeter walls. This construction uses precast concrete wall sections that are cast either off-site or on-site. Using precast concrete walls, particularly for multi storey buildings requires the construction of reinforced concrete floors towards the upper edge of the walls. This is achieved using conventional casting techniques to produce columns and floors using reinforced or post-stressed concrete construction techniques.
During the process of installing the necessary form work to produce these columns and floors, it is necessary for workers to be in an elevated position which is near the edge of the floors adjacent the previously positioned precast walls.
In order to provide a barrier on the upper edge of these walls, barriers comprising a plurality of vertical uprights and horizontal bars have been used. The use of spaced horizontal bars allows workers to reach through the bars to conduct work on the upper edge of the wall at the time of locating and fixing the next precast wall section on the top edge of a previously positioned wall section. This work includes the location of height adjusting packers, sealant strips on the inside and outside edges of the wall and adding grout which is used to help secure the upper wall panel to the lower wall panel.
Clearly, access to the upper edge of the lower (ie. previously positioned) wall panel is required in order to carry out this work.
However, there is a need for these upper barriers to not only prevent falls by workers, but also to prevent loose objects from falling from a height. Accordingly, it is a requirement in some instances for the barriers to have a relatively fine mesh installed from the top to the bottom of the barrier. Obviously, such a requirement then makes it extremely difficult to conduct the required work involved in positioning and attaching the next precast wall segment.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to overcome one or more of the above mentioned problems, or at least, provide a useful alternative to known barrier systems.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein, by way of illustration and example, an embodiment of the present invention is disclosed.